Saint Benali

Don't believe anything he says. Just pure PR bull****.

Wow Leicester ****ed up bigtime

Exactly. Hoj has had a few decent games but like most of the squad has been average to poor this season. Romeu has had a dire season compared to last year. Bednarak has had a grand total of 5 games for us. Lemina started off well but gradually got ****ter and ****ter. Its like they have instantly forgot we are (not 100% safe yet) in a relegation battle. That is down to a mixture of poor managers and really **** players. Highlighting the recruitment and trying to spin it as a positive is quite frankly mental. Didn't take long for the club to start talking about how awesome they are again did it. Seems they have learnt nothing.

Mainly his own. His tactics have been shocking today. 7/8 defensive players. They have only 3 players back as they know Austin won't do much. We have played into their hands so far and having everyone mass defend is the reason we can't get out. Nobody to pass to. So much for throwing the sink at it. Can see why he was sacked now.

They are playing only 3 at the back? We look way too defensive set up wise.

He is right though. The critical flaw to the article and why it is nonsense is that it assumes you will do well once you are in the championship. Hull and Sunderland have won 18 games out of 92 between them. I am sure if it was one of their fans writing an article it wouldn't look anything like this one. If you have a good board who make sound decisions you are likely to do well. If you have dodgy ones who keep making mistakes and don't learn from them you will struggle no matter what league you play in. As we have no clue what our owner is about and know our board are idiots we are more likely to do a Sunderland than a Boro imo.

Leicester still in freefall then...

In all due respect I stopped reading there. Cortese last full season financial results https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/mar/31/southampton-profits-administration-2009 Southampton have announced after tax profits of £33.4m for the year ending 30 June 2014 Total revenue increased to £106m from £71.8m in 2013 There are lots of positives to take from these financial results. Recording the first profit and positive net asset position for the first time since administration in 2009 is very pleasing. It shows the health of the club and the group is strong and the foundations are there to be built on. And only 2 and a bit months before those results we were told New Southampton director Hans Hofstetter says the club's board has inherited a "difficult financial situation The club posted a net loss of £7.1m and will enter the summer window owing £27m in outstanding transfer fees. A bill in excess of £30m is also pending for their new training ground. The most important point is that we are in a position where we do not need to sell any player Mauricio [Pochettino] wants to keep," Hofstetter added Hofstetter says that will not lead to the sale of star players such as Luke Shaw, Jay Rodriguez and Adam Lallana. So firstly the owed transfer fees and the training ground loan. We simply had to spend that money or we would have been in severe trouble staying up. Those transfers helped the club to become what it would be. Jay, Clyne, Davis and Yoshi went on to play huge parts in our rise. Some went wrong IE Gaston. Building that squad we only needed to bring in a few the following season. Lovren, Wanyama and of course the nutter Osvaldo. We eventually sold Clyne, Jay, Wanyama and Lovren which in total was over £50m. This for me it the issue people just seem to forget or not wish to talk about. If we buy something we have an asset. It isn't money being ****ed in the wind. You will of course get some come through that don't work out. But at the end of it we had some good times out of those transfers and most of them left for more than what we paid. The same goes for the training ground. We needed to upgrade if we wanted to compete. We have top level facilities now. Ones that are worth a fortune and are shown in the sale of the club. Again this image that we loaned money and it just vanished and was wasted is wrong. In the words of the same guy above The Club has risen quickly in a short period and committed itself to high levels of expenditure both on the development of Staplewood Training Ground, which is likely to exceed £30m, as well as significant future transfer fees. This high level of expenditure has required strong support from the Ultimate Shareholder and once again this has been shown So right there shows Kat agreed to those things. Hardly the shock they later went on to say is it? And the justification for spending that amount? The redevelopment of Staplewood Training Ground will provide the players and Academy staff with the best quality environment to meet the standard set by the First Team who have competed and performed on the pitch at the highest level, and will also help the Academy to continue to develop future talent. So not this really bad idea where the owner was pushed into doing something horrible is it? You say he was spending on stupid things and ultimately this was his downfall. But Kat's advisor said “In other areas the Club has maintained its prudent approach to the stewardship of the underlying activities required to run the Club" Again that doesn't quite indicate we had gone on a full blown spending bender does it? With the first phase of the training ground due to open this summer, Academy graduates continuing to progress into the First Team, a healthy operating profit position and a strong ownership combined and balanced board we are provided with an excellent foundation from which the Club as a whole can continue to grow Hang on a sec I thought we were in the financial ****? How are we in a healthy operating profit position if we are renovating houses?! And now Cortese was sacked was he? Which doesn't quite fit with what Kat said when he resigned. With great regret we have accepted the resignation of Mr Cortese. He has done a wonderful job at the club and we very much wanted him to stay Or are you suggesting she was actually lying and didn't think those things and did actually sack him? And the final bit as to why I didn't keep reading was We didn't make profits without player sales, "Interim results for the first six months ending December 31, 2012 show total revenue, excluding player trading, nearly trebled to £33.1million from £11.6million, while average attendances rose 16 per cent to 30,372." Our first six months in the Barclays Premier League show the dramatic impact promotion has had on the club," chief financial officer Gareth Rogers said. "However, the significant increase in turnover has not deterred us from our stated aim of financial prudence in the top division. "I am delighted to report the club's first profit without the aid of player trading since 2005, which demonstrates that prudence in football can be achieved whilst significant investment, both on and off the field, is still being made." So there you have it. Don't take that as a defence of Cortese as he did a lot wrong. But people fail to remember he was a successful business man. Specializing in making money. The loans he got went into the club in the form of assets players/facilities. Those investments were recouped by the club and eventually the owner. Financial mire is having no money at all and being expected to still keep paying out. As much doom and gloom our new officer Hans said in March, seemed to turn to delight only three months later. The figures do not support that one bit and it is no surprise he vanished without a trace.

Biggest load of horse**** that was ever spoken on here Les. But hey let's take a look. So Cortese left us in the mire after wasting £40m on Osvaldo and Ramirez did he? Firstly think you may need to go back and actually look at how good Osvaldo was before we signed him. He scored 17 goals in 30 league games and was the main striker for Italy at the time. The fact a newly promoted team could even think of getting one of the top scorers in Serie A was unthinkable. The fact he had a meltdown was nothing to do with Cortese.... If you want to talk about wastes though how about Carrillio and Boufal? Some signings go well and some don't. That is the nature of the game. The way you try and portray it is we all should have known it would go tits up which is just wrong... As for the financial mire thing. Would this be the same financial mire where we made profits without player sales? The same financial mire where we invested in new training and youth facilities that were needed to push the club forwards? The same facilities that were then added to the valuation of the club which Kat pocketed? If you want to talk about finances how about this one. Les sold nearly £300m worth of players in just 4 years and we are in the drop zone with one of the poorest squads we have ever assembled? Our wage bill went from just over £40m a season to now almost £100m a season in just 4 years. IF we go down and Les has not put clauses in their contracts, especially the ones signed at the start of the season we will be ****ed. But I am sure you are on a wind up.

Right Sparky, time to earn your huge wages. Get some attacking players on and go for it. If we fail to win this one at least go down fighting ffs. Romeu off, Gabbi on, Yoshi or Hoedt off and JWP on. If we come out set up the same way the guy is a muppet.

Well that decision didn't work out too well did it? His replacement was gone within a year, that guys replacement was gone within a year and that guys replacement is likely to be gone in under a year. The sad thing is we could have paid more to those three than what Koeman was after. But from what I remember it wasn't actually money stopping him was it? Didn't he want some confirmation that the squad wouldn't be broken up and would infact be strengthened like Reed said in his interviews? Would Koeman have left to go to Everton if he would have kept the squad together and added to it? Who knows. That final year he could have ****ed up bigtime. We will never know. What we do know is Reed's decision at that point could be considered the true starting point for our decline.

It's an interesting article but the helpless to stop Koeman leaving thing isn't correct. Les told him if he didn't sign a new deal he would have to leave. Koeman wanted to do the final year of his contract and assess things after.

No going back after this game. Hughes has to show some balls and set us up to attack or as he said "throw the kitchen sink at it". 5 defenders and 3 defensive midfielders won't cut it. Especially as we have let in a **** load of goals playing like that. Be positive and get at them. If we go for it and don't get the result then it just wasn't to be. I'd rather that then sit back defending and still don't get the result. Go down fighting.

Couldn't care less about Liverpool or if they win anything. What I care about is we sold them 5 players for hundreds of millions and used that money to put a really **** team together. Les wasted that money and we will be the ones to pay for it.

Think your find only two people say that who self admit they never liked him. Cortese actually made a profit for the club without player sales. Something old Les has never done.

Another tactical masterclass from Hughes then...

That was awful defending

Hughes well and truly ****ed that one up. Starting with so many defensive players against Arsenal and Chelsea is understandable. Doing it against a Leicester side in a bit of poor form with nothing to play for is pathetic. What was the hanging on for a draw ******** about? I'm not sure who the commentator was but they got it spot on when they said the players look like they were instructed to stay deep. Especially from corners. Very negative tactics in a game we had to win. What's happened at the club is not his fault but that result was down to his poor tactics and team selection.

Bertrand and jwp are looking very dodgy right now.

7 defensive players again... As for Lemina I thought he pulled a hamstring or something?

Indeed. They are having a great time. Backed by the £70m their owner spent on players over the last few windows. Fair play to them, they got a Chinese owner who seems to have a bit of ambition. Let's hope ours does the same?

Wonder if Sunderland fans like the championship? With the board and owner we have that could be us next season. Oh the fun we will have!

So we have 12 points from the last 60 on offer and you think we will get 12 of the next 15 whilst a team that has lost 2 of its last 10 will implode? So if you think that makes someone a wet fanny then you really are a complete Muppet. If you are so confident of what you are saying put your money where your mouth is. I bet you £1000 we will not get 12 points from our last 5 games? How about it? Or are you just talking **** as usual?

She owed us in the sense she should have been more considerate in who she sold us to. It's her money she can do what she wants. But she sold us to a bunch of criminals and she knew that. Thus she is scum in my book. She doesn't give a **** about us or the club and the sooner people understand that the better.

CB Fry defending the muppets that got us into this mess shocker. Just waiting for him to blame it all on Cortese...